


the world is different from yesterday

by towokuwusatsuwu



Series: Pride 2018: 30 Days of S.W.O.R.D. [2]
Category: HiGH&LOW: the Story of S.W.O.R.D. (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Introspection, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 05:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14846639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Hyuga is impossible to move alone so Cobra focuses on Murayama, playing with his hair before leaning down to kiss him, nudging their noses together until the leader of Oya High whines at him and tries to swat at his face. When he finally peels open one eye, an irritated expression on his face, Cobra kisses him full on the lips to cool his annoyance. It has the desired effect; Murayama twists a hand in the fabric of his t-shirt and pulls on it, as if trying to erase the invisible distance between them.“What is it, Cobra-chan?” he mumbles, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.“Need to get up and you and Hyuga are kind of holding me down.” Cobra shifts to prove his point, and Murayama eases back just a little before he sits up in bed.“Hyuga-chan, c’mere.” It takes both of them to move Hyuga’s dead weight across Cobra’s body, Cobra wriggling out from beneath him and slipping off of the edge of the bed. Hyuga curls into the warm spot left behind and Murayama spoons up behind him, shooting Cobra a look. “You owe me for waking me up and then making me do that.”Cobra smiles, leans down to kiss Murayama’s forehead. “I’ll make you breakfast.”





	the world is different from yesterday

The storm continues on through most of the night. By the time it settles down, Cobra is restless in bed but trapped firmly in place by the two and a half bodies on top of his own. Two and a half because while Hyuga and Murayama have each claimed one of his shoulders for their heads, Smokey is twisted in strange angles in the sheets, using both Cobra and Rocky as a bed instead of the mattress beneath. In all fairness, there is hardly any mattress left even for someone as skinny as Smokey is.

Cobra heaves a sigh and shifts his arms, trying to free himself from the trap that Murayama and Hyuga present him with. Murayama clings in his sleep and is dead now, snoring softly against Cobra’s shoulder, too quiet to be annoying but just loud enough that Cobra’s heart wobbles a little at the sound of it. In contrast, Hyuga is out like a light; only the warm curl of his breathing against Cobra’s neck lets Cobra know that his dead weight is not actually dead.

A chuckle from next to him makes him tilt his head in the darkness. “Rocky?”

“Yeah. Storm woke me up.” A hand sifts through Cobra’s hair, pushing it back off of his forehead. “Trapped? Looks like they got you pinned down pretty well.”

“Worse than the chains,” Cobra jokes, but he can feel Rocky go still next to him.

Maybe the joke wasn’t as funny as he thought it would be coming out.

“Sorry,” he mutters, pressing his cheek against the pillow so hard it almost hurts.

“Nah, don’t be. We all got our own ways of dealing with shit, I guess I gotta let you have your own too.” Rocky’s fingers return to running through Cobra’s hair, oddly soothing in a way he did not expect it to be. “You want some help? You’ll probably just have to push Hyuga off onto the floor but I can pry Yoshiki off of you if you want me to.”

Cobra makes a face at Rocky, not sure if he can see it quite as well as he would need to in order to receive the full impact of disapproval. “I’m not going to push Hyuga onto the floor.”

“Fine, fine. Just, here, hold on. Smokey, move.” Rocky starts to shift, but Cobra catches Rocky by the wrist, and Rocky stops moving instantly.

“Don’t make Smokey wake up and move. I’ll figure this out on my own.” Cobra turns his head to kiss the palm of Rocky’s hand and he hears the soft sigh before he shifts his attention to the two men weighing him down more than anything else ever could.

Hyuga is impossible to move alone so Cobra focuses on Murayama, playing with his hair before leaning down to kiss him, nudging their noses together until the leader of Oya High whines at him and tries to swat at his face. When he finally peels open one eye, an irritated expression on his face, Cobra kisses him full on the lips to cool his annoyance. It has the desired effect; Murayama twists a hand in the fabric of his t-shirt and pulls on it, as if trying to erase the invisible distance between them.

“What is it, Cobra-chan?” he mumbles, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Need to get up and you and Hyuga are kind of holding me down.” Cobra shifts to prove his point, and Murayama eases back just a little before he sits up in bed.

“Hyuga-chan, c’mere.” It takes both of them to move Hyuga’s dead weight across Cobra’s body, Cobra wriggling out from beneath him and slipping off of the edge of the bed. Hyuga curls into the warm spot left behind and Murayama spoons up behind him, shooting Cobra a look. “You owe me for waking me up and then making me do that.”

Cobra smiles, leans down to kiss Murayama’s forehead. “I’ll make you breakfast.”

Successfully freed from the bed, Cobra leaves the bedroom behind, shutting the door behind him as quietly as he can so as not to disturb Hyuga or Smokey. The apartment is quiet; Yamato and Noboru are with the Mighty Warriors tonight so Cobra had taken the advantage of having the apartment to himself to invite the S.W.O.R.D. leaders over to spend the night with him. One of the advantages of so many of them having such open relationships mean that no one has to be alone and their bonds only grow tighter over time.

Still, Cobra is restless. The storm had raged for a decent chunk of the night and unable to sleep through it, Cobra let his mind wander to their situation. How many close calls have they survived at this point? How many times have they all put their lives at risk to protect their home? The obstacles they faced drew them all together for sure, but the cost was great and Cobra is not sure he wants to risk paying any greater prices no matter what the benefits might be.

Only by the skin of their teeth were they able to save Smokey from Iemura Group’s plan to capture him and kill him. Cobra is grateful for the storm for at least one reason; there were no nightmares about what might have happened if they were any later, if they failed to save Smokey and instead found his body dead and cold on the Nameless Street.

Cobra will do anything for his home, of course. As he paces around the living room just to work the nerves out of his muscles and the stiffness out of his joints, aware of all the bruises and scrapes on his body, this is still true in his heart. This city means everything to him and he would do anything to protect it, but the reality is that losing someone he loves would hurt him more than just about anything else and he wants to prevent that if he can.

What if he can’t? What if they aren’t enough? Cobra doesn’t know what a serious loss would do to him, to all of them. The grief would be great, that much is certain.

The sound of footsteps behind him goes unheard; he has his hands laced together behind his head, eyes fixed on the window, on the quiet night outside of it when a pair of arms snake around his waist and pull him back. The touch startles him, but only a little. No one in this apartment at this moment has any reason to hurt him.

“You left the bed.” Hyuga’s voice is rough from sleep, hoarse and low in his throat, and he presses his forehead between Cobra’s shoulder blades. “Come back.”

“Sorry. I just needed to walk around the apartment for a few minutes. I didn’t think you’d even notice, you were so out of it.” Cobra twists around in Hyuga’s arms with ease, because he’s so tired that his grip is weak, and pulls Hyuga up against his chest.

Hyuga smacks him on the shoulder, but it doesn’t hurt at all. “Don’t say such stupid things. Of course I’d notice you weren’t there. How couldn't I? What are you even doing up?”

“Just thinking about things. What we’ve went through, what we’ve lost. What we  _ almost _ lost.” He doesn’t have to say Smokey’s name for Hyuga to understand him; he can feel the realization in the way Hyuga tenses up in his arms. “And I needed to get up and walk that off a little. If I worried you or disturbed you, I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.”

“S’fine. You feel better now?” Hyuga squints up at him from beneath mussed bangs and Cobra smoothes his fingers through the strands.

His lips brush against Hyuga’s forehead and linger there for just a moment, warm skin against warm skin, anchoring Cobra to reality, to the present they have all crafted with their bare hands. “Yeah, I feel better now. And I’m kinda tired. Wandering around late wasn’t a great idea.”

“Gotta do what you gotta do, right?” Hyuga tilts his head back just a bit so that Cobra’s lips land against his and Cobra leans into it, gives Hyuga a proper kiss and squeezes him a little just because he can, because Hyuga is here and alive in his arms, and worried about him, something Cobra would never have known was possible from every time they ever fought. “Now. Bed. ‘Cause you also kinda gotta get some sleep, too.”

Cobra takes Hyuga by the elbow to make sure he stays on his feet back down the hallway to the bedroom. The trio still in bed have reconfigured their shape; Smokey has half of his body curled on top of Rocky’s now while Murayama sits up against the pillows, eyes dropping shut even as he struggles to keep them open. Relief plays across his features before he schools them into a scowl, scooting over just enough to give Cobra room to sit down next to him.

Predictably, Hyuga flops between Murayama and Rocky, wriggling down into the warm space between them, smothering a yawn against the palm of his hand. “Night.”

“You good, now?” Rocky asks, keeping his voice soft and low.

Before Cobra can answer him properly, Smokey pushes himself up onto his elbows, running slim fingers through his hair to push it back out of his eyes. “Cobra? Something wrong?”

“Just needed to shake off some nerves from the storm is all.” The last thing Smokey needs to hear constantly is how grateful Cobra is that Smokey survived after all. The memory cannot be kept constantly fresh; Smokey needs to be allowed to heal from it. “No worries, Smokey.”

He leans across Hyuga and Rocky to give Smokey a peck on the lips, hoping it does something to reassure him that everything is fine. It ends up being the only contact he can manage before Murayama pins him back down on the mattress, pressing his body against Cobra’s in all the right places so that they fit together like two puzzle pieces instead of two separate people. Then he throws a leg across both of Cobra’s for good measure.

The minute Cobra settles in, Rocky’s hand is back in his hair. “You really good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine just like I said. Got everything I need right here, y’know?” Cobra shifts an arm around Murayama’s shoulders, earning a pleased noise in return, and lets Hyuga cling to the other one as tightly as he wants to.

Rocky keeps a hand in his hair until he inevitably falls asleep, fingers limply curled in Cobra’s hair, holding onto him even when he is no longer consciously aware of doing so. Cobra smiles softly, nuzzles against the palm of his hand and lets himself slip closer to sleep. What felt stifling and like a cage before feels secure and warm now; the dual weight of Murayama and Hyuga reminds him that he still has everyone he loves as close as he could want them.

There will be more obstacles and he knows this better than anyone else ever could. How often have he and his own suffered? But Cobra is confident in their ability to pick themselves up again when they fall down. They can survive any storm together as long as they have each other to lean on and each other to fight alongside. A year ago, that bond was nonexistent and the threat of losing their city was much higher than it is now. There are good things to count, and they far outnumber the bad.

Besides, Cobra would be remiss to forget what comes after a rainstorm. When the clouds finally part and the sun shines through again, rainbows appear in the sky. S.W.O.R.D. might not be quite as colorful in that respect but the five of them are bound just as tight now, and together, they can do anything. Of that, at least, Cobra can be sure.


End file.
